A Rare Marc Newson Sculpture Inspired by his Love of Cars

T hroughout his career Marc Newson has been exploring in his designs a large spectrum of materials and shapes. One of his most well-known piece is most certainly the Orgone Stretch Lounge which is the outcome of the form Marc was striving for when he made the Lockheed Lounge. However, at the time, he did not have the knowledge or the resources to make it.

The piece is the result of a long process and many experiments to achieve this perfectly fluid form made of aluminium. If Marc Newson first designed the Event Horizon Table with the theme of the “black-hole”, the Orgone Chair and Orgone Stretch Lounge, for which he extruded the legs out of the structure, came as their companions shortly after. One of each, the table and the Stretch Lounge, are included in the Paris Important Design sale on 25 June.

As a fervent car aficionado, Newson has been influenced in some of his designs by the automobile aesthetic and these two pieces were fabricated by British coachbuilders specialising in the restoration of Aston Martins cars. He says: “The original piece in the series, the Event Horizon table was completely inspired by traditional automotive iconography and coach building craft. Hence the other pieces in the series were similarly influenced, especially once I had ascertained the craft was appropriate for the manufacture of these forms.”

It is this passion of cars that in fact led to Marc Newson and Michael Stehle, the owner of the Orgone Stretch Lounge, meeting years ago at the famous Mille Mila car race in Italy. Both men were racing in this world-renowned event and their friendship started then. Later on, Stehle even bought Newson’s Ferrari 225 S Barchetta.

As Stehle wished to acquire one of his friend's works, Newson directed him towards this specific Orgone Stretch Lounge mentioning that it was a very special piece to him and one of his favourites: “The fundamental shape of the piece was what made it significant to me. In a way it was the strongest expression of the feminine form that I was experimenting with, in relation to my own sculptural work.”

Stehle made the acquisition of what is the first Artist Proof and the only one ever made in black. It has been notably made in red, but Newson wanted to “try one in black to test the effectiveness of the visual emptiness of the interior (which was in many ways more important than the exterior.)”

This colour, or lack of colour one could say, re-enforces the original idea of a ”black-hole” and removes any visual distractions. The eyes are therefore captivated only by the pure and feminine lines of the piece.

Having set numerous records at auction Newson is certainly one of the most well-known designer of the 20th and 21st centuries. His work is present in several major museum collections including the MoMA in New York, the Design Museum and the V&A in London as well as the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and the Vitra Design Museum in Germany, to name a few.

Past Auction

Important Design

25 June 2020 | 2:30 PM CEST | Paris